Just so I don’t forget, here is a list of really awesome Python libraries that I’m using these days to do lots of fun things with spatial data [UPDATE: I’ve added a few more]:
- pandas - For data handling and munging
- shapely - For geometry handling
- cartopy - For plotting spatial data
- rtree - For efficiently querying spatial data
- nodebox-opengl - For playing around with animations
- statsmodels - For models and stats in Python (otherwise I’d use R)
- numpy - For pretty much anything that involves arrays
- geopy - For geolocating and things like that
- ipython - For a wondering interactive environment in which to play
- freetype-py - For converting font glyphs to polygons (odd I know…)
- ogr/gdal - For reading, writing, and transforming geospatial data formats
- pyqgis - For anything and everything GIS
- fiona - For making it easy to read/write geospatial data formats
- matplotlib - For all my plotting needs
- networkx - For working with networks (duh!)
- pelican - For blogging about all this stuff…
- pysal - For all your spatial econometrics needs (and more)
- descartes - For plotting geometries in matplotlib
Based on Twitter and some of the comments below, I should also add:
- geographiclib - For solving geodesic problems
- pyshp - For reading and writing shapefiles (in pure Python)
- pyproj - For conversions between projections
Any others I’ve missed?